CNS

Air Pollution: Does Height Matter?

Alice Tembe, CNS Correspondent, Swaziland

Photo credit: R Dwivedi/ CNS

Well the answer is yes-- the closer you are to the ground the more efficient is the inhalation of heavier airborne chemicals. Children are more vulnerable to the health hazards of these pollutants. Besides breathing a greater volume of air than adults relative to their body size, children being small and closer to the ground (as compared to adults) breathe in more of the heavier airborne chemicals than adults. They also have a higher heart rate, which allows substances that are absorbed into the blood to permeate tissues faster.

Rahul Dwivedi, CNS Correspondent, India
Pollution often refers to outdoor pollution of air, water, soil or other natural resources. But indoor air pollution within our homes is a serious health hazard for lung health which is often ignored. “Passive smoking and exposure to biomass cook stove smoke are also risk factors for developing active tuberculosis (TB) disease, especially in children. Biomass cooking fumes and tobacco smoke can also trigger asthma attacks. So the practice of using biomass fuel should be replaced by other safer and cleaner energy options” said Dr Surya Kant, Professor and Head, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, King George’s Medical University (KGMU).

Food Sovereignity And Sustainable Agriculture Go Hand In Hand To Reduce Poverty

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist

Despite rapid economic growth, income inequality is rising in India and structural inequalities have kept entire groups trapped in poverty. Although India has reduced absolute poverty by 14% in the last decade more than 400 million of its people still live in poverty. It is home to one third poor of the world as well as to 40% (217 million) of the world’s malnourished children. It also remains at the bottom of the group of mid income countries with a GDP per capita at $ 1410 in 2011.

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
The threat of being evicted from ones home is a scary thought for anyone, more so for a woman. The fear of being ousted from her home forces her to live in an unsafe environment behind closed doors rather in the absence of a safe place that is rightfully her own. The Indian tradition of a daughter being ‘paraya dhan’ (her husband’s property) smacks of a patriarchal setup that implies denial of property rights to her. A land or a house which a woman owns legally is an asset which gives her the confidence and courage to fight life’s odds.

Call to link sustainability with post-2015 development goals

Bobby Ramakant, CNS Special Correspondent

Ashish Kothari, Kalpavriksh

One of the drawbacks of millennium development goals (MDGs) which countries aspired to meet by 2015 was that sustainability was missing. There was no sustainability indicator in place to assess development in MDG framework. With intense rounds of post-2015 Strategic Development Goals (SDGs) going on around the world, one positive sign is that sustainability is getting increasing attention in development discourses.

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
The deadline for the realization of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by countries of the world is drawing to a close in 2015. The progress on MDGs might have been with mixed results, but lot of lessons need to be learnt while we frame new set of development goals and targets after 2015. The post-2015 discussions have been taking place since last one and a half years to address the issues of unsustainability, poverty, climate change, and global cooperation, with a view to integrate the economic, social and environmental aspects of global governance.

Debate: What do post-2015 strategic development goals mean to us?

Bobby Ramakant, CNS Special Correspondent

In the year 2000, countries of the world had agreed to meet the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Numerous consultative processes have been taking place around the world on what should be the development goals post-2015. A draft list of 17 Strategic Development Goals (SDGs) and 168 targets for post-2015 is expected to be presented before the UN General Assembly in September 2014 to agree on modalities and inter-governmental negotiations might begin from January 2015 onwards.

From CNS archives dated February 2013: Old news but more alarming today
This is an appeal from a person in her own words who urgently needs support for her healthcare needs. She is a brave woman who is a living example of the oft-quoted adage - 'When the going gets tough, the tough gets going...' Read her story in her own words -a real-life experience, full of grit, courage and determination, to continue living and spreading light despite seemingly insurmountable challenges.
(CNS has met and interviewed Payel and strongly supports her efforts to exercise her right to health. Please consider supporting her personal fight against Von Hippel Lindau (VHL) Syndrome and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Kindly find her contact details or ways to support below)

Photo credit: R Dwivedi/CNS

Isaac Eranga, CNS Correspondent, Nigeria
Two billion people — one-third of humanity — carry a latent TB infection. The vast majority of those infected latently live their whole lives without becoming sick with TB or spreading the infection. The body’s immune defenses seal the invading TB germs within a tiny capsule at the infection site, thus preventing them from multiplying. When the body’s immunity is compromised, like through HIV, the capsule containing the TB germs weakens and breaks.

Photo credit: R Dwivedi/CNS

Shobha Shukla - CNS Columnist
(This article is based upon a podcast from TB Alliance (Global Alliance for TB Drug Development), which is online here). The first estimates of the global burden of TB in children given by the WHO in 2012, suggested that there might be 530,000 children suffering from it. Subsequently there has been an uptake in the research in this field. A recent mathematical modelling study on the burden of childhood TB in 22 high-burden countries, (published in the Lancet) has revealed that there may be 650,000 annual cases of TB in children. Are these figures at odds with the estimate of 530,000 previously made by WHO?

Chhatra Karki, CNS Correspondent, Nepal
‘HIV does not kill people, but the stigma does’. Stigma and discrimination refers to the prejudice and misbehavior with people living with HIV (PLHIV), further adding to their woes. Who else would know it better than 33 years old Tuka Devi (name changed), of Dadeldhura district in west Nepal.

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
We know that nearly one third of the 35 million people living with HIV (PLHIV) have tuberculosis (TB), and 13% of 8.6 million new TB cases every year are HIV positive. Also 1 in 5 HIV associated deaths are due to TB. Moreover PLHIV are 21-34 times more likely to develop active TB disease than persons without HIV. So it becomes imperative to establish an effective collaboration between two vertical programmes and provide point-of-care services for both the infections through policies that promote effective screening for HIV among TB patients and provide early antiretroviral therapy (ART) to those who are confirmed to be HIV positive.

Chhatra Karki, CNS Correspondent
TB co-infection in people living with HIV (PLHIV) has remained alarmingly high all over the world. Studies have revealed that the risk of developing TB is 21-26 higher in PLHIV as compared to those who are HIV negative. Also, about one in five AIDS-related deaths in 2012 were attributed to TB. This poses a great challenge to many governments worldwide, since they have not yet taken integrated steps for its effective control.

Chhatra Karki, CNS Correspondent
Balbir Tamang (name changed), hails from Naubise, a small village just outside of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu. He went to India in search of a job three years ago. He was in unsafe sexual relationships with many sex-workers there. After nine months, he fell sick and returned home. His sickness became worse with time. Finally, he took a blood test and was diagnosed HIV positive.

Voices From the Frontlines of Rectal Microbicides Research in Chiang Mai

“Do we count?” A question for AIDS 2014 and beyond

Photo Credit: India HIV/AIDS Alliance

James Robertson, CNS Columnist
(First published by India HIV/AIDS Alliance)
Every two years, researchers, implementers, policy makers, and community activists come together at the International AIDS Conference to take stock of the pandemic: Where are we now? Where have we been? Where are we heading? Discoveries are heralded and strategies dissected. There are always more questions than answers, but there is one question that needs to be answered at AIDS 2014 and beyond: Do we count?

Photo credit: colloquium.cochrane.org

Dr Prathap Tharyan, CNS Columnist
(first published on the blog: Evidence-informed musings)
With less than a week to go before the close of early registration (July 31st, 2014) and the beginning of regular registration (till September 1st, 2014), we are busy putting the finishing touches in our preparations to host the largest and most important business and scientific meeting that the world will see this year of people and organizations involved in producing, maintaining and disseminating credible evidence to inform health decisions. This gathering has the potential to affect the lives of millions of people living in the region and globally.

Photo Credit: Owen Nyaka

Owen Nyaka, CNS Correspondent, Malawi
Viral Hepatitis is a global public health problem affecting millions of people every year, causing disability and death. Yet Malawi seems to be showing no sign of safeguarding its citizens from the devastating health consequences of this dreaded disease.

Can innovation drive HIV responses to meet 90:90:90 targets by 2020?

Bobby Ramakant, CNS Special Correspondent

Joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is mobilizing governments and other partners to achieve new set of targets, referred to as, 90:90:90 by 2020, but with current set of tools, approaches, funding commitments, and challenge that HIV poses to the world, the goal seems certainly a bold and ambitious one. Without innovation, at current pace of HIV responses on the ground, we are very likely to fail meeting the targets. We not only need to accelerate the search for better and effective technologies to help fight AIDS effectively but also need to improvise and innovate in rolling out evidence-based approaches.

Esther, Indonesia (CNS Images)

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
According to a joint UN report entitled “HIV prevention, treatment and care in prisons and other closed settings: a comprehensive package of interventions,” at least 30 million men, women and children globally go through prison systems each year, and the prevalence of HIV, STIs, hepatitis B and C and TB is two to twenty times –even up to fifty times – higher in prison population than in general population. The proportion of people who use and inject drugs in prisons can reach half the incarcerated population, especially among women in closed settings. Access to health services is largely absent.

Dr Elizabeth Bukusi, KEMRI

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
Women of reproductive age have a need for prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV, and family planning methods. More importantly, women need prevention tools/methods that are under their control and do not leave them at the mercy of their partner, in as far as their sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is concerned. Dr Elizabeth Bukusi, Deputy Director (Research and Training), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) spoke to Citizen News Service (CNS) at 20th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014).

Alarm rings on low uptake of existing prevention options for anal STIs and HIV

Bobby Ramakant, CNS Special Correspondent

[Images] Despite overall progress in HIV prevention, rates of HIV infection among key affected populations such as men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people remain alarmingly high. For example, recent data indicates that MSM are up to 19 times more likely to have HIV than the general population – transgender women are almost 50 times more likely. Overall new HIV infection rates have dipped by 26% in Asia and the Pacific region since 2001,but not for MSM and transgender.

Photo credit: Owen Nyaka

Owen Nyaka, CNS Correspondent, Malawi
“God is mysterious. I was nearly incapacitated by the TB infection since I could not do anything apart from sleeping in agony every day at home, my children were greatly affected by my illness because am the bread winner. My life is now back to normal,” says Eveless.

'When bacteria and virus can work so well together, why can't we?'

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist

[Images] Setting the pace for the press conference, Dr IS Gilada, President, AIDS Society of India, emphasized that collaborative activities between national TB and HIV programmes can help maximise strengthen public health outcomes. He said if HIV programmes do not pay adequate attention to TB, or TB programmes ignore HIV, then the progress made in responding to HIV and TB gets threatened.

Prakash Tyagi, CNS Correspondent
“How come we have been able to bring everything that life needs into one mobile phone device and can keep it in our pockets, but can not find a cure for HIV,” asked a young man to Dr. Francoise Barre-Sinnousi, Nobel Laureate and Co Chair of the ongoing 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne.

Ishdeep Kohli, CNS Correspondent
“While public health officials call sex workers and drug users ‘hard-to-reach populations,’ police have little trouble finding them,” said Daniel Wolfe, Director of the Open Society International Harm Reduction Development Programme.

Phillip, Gautam and Hender: YVC

Stigma related to HIV not only blocks access to existing services for key affected populations but also increases risk of HIV acquisition manifold. When self-stigma or shame seeps in, it pushes people into depression, aggression, self-harm, addictions or even suicide. HIV-related stigma and discrimination in the community further escalates self-stigma. At 20th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014), young men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people shared their experiences of external and internalized stigma they face.

CNS Image Library: AIDS 2010

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
“We must focus upon individual human beings rather than on individual diseases of TB and HIV. A person centric approach is bound to work together than a disease centric approach,” said Mark Dybul, Executive Director, Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at a high level WHO consultation, held in conjunction with 20th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014), to discuss policies to catalyze the response for elimination of TB deaths among people living with HIV (PLHIV).

CNS Image Library: AIDS 2010

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
So said Helen Ayles. She was quoted by Dr Diane Havlir who was speaking in the plenary of the 20th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014) in Melbourne, Australia. Dr Diane Havlir who is a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, was hopeful that "Every HIV/TB case prevented and every death averted should become a public health success and put us one step closer to ending the dual epidemic of HIV and TB."

CNS image library: AIDS 2010

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
Viet Nam is one of the countries in the world that has made remarkable progress over the last decade in not only making harm reduction and HIV services available and accessible for people who use drugs but also reforming laws for supportive health policies on the ground. Khuat Thi Hai Oanh who leads Centre for Supportive Community Development Initiatives (SCDI) in Viet Nam, was a plenary speaker at 20th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014) in Melbourne, Australia.

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious bacterial disease and spreads through the air. When people with pulmonary TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air and a person needs to inhale only a few of these germs to become infected. On the other hand, HIV/AIDS is a viral disease that is transmitted chiefly through unprotected sexual intercourse and contaminated blood. Yet there is a deadly synergy between the two, with people living with HIV (PLHIV) being 30 times more likely to develop TB and one in every five deaths in them being attributable to TB.

Australia reinforces its commitment in fight against AIDS

Bobby Ramakant, CNS Special Correspondent

Australia has taken a lead in supporting public health in India over the years. With XX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014) being held in Melbourne, Citizen News Service (CNS) interviewed Bernard Philip, Deputy High Commissioner of Australia to India. "The conference is providing an opportunity to showcase Australia's leadership in the global HIV response, particularly in Asia and the Pacific. Over the past decade, Australia has provided over AUD 1 billion to support HIV-specific programmes in developing countries, and responding to HIV remains a priority for the Australian Government" said Philip.

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist
Two years after launching a first of its kind Combination Drug Study for TB treatment in 2010, the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) raised hopes of a novel drug regimen to treat both forms of TB—drug sensitive (DS) and multi drug resistant (MDR) TB, at the XX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014) in Melbourne, offering a new paradigm in TB treatment to treat patients with drugs to which they are sensitive, rather than based on what they are resistant to.